The Loner: The Bounty Killers Read Online Free PDF Page B

pursue the lone remaining robber into the bank. He didn’t notice the wounded outlaw in the street had clambered up onto his knees and was fumbling to pick up his fallen gun with his left hand.
    The Kid saw the threat and was swinging down from the saddle even as the outlaw finally succeeded in scooping the revolver from the ground.
    Moving to where the man could see him, The Kid leveled his Colt and warned, “Don’t do it!”
    The outlaw hesitated for a heartbeat, then jerked the gun toward The Kid.
    Left with no choice, The Kid fired. The slug hammered into the wounded outlaw’s chest and drove him over on his back. The gun in his left hand went off, but it was pointed at the sky and the bullet sailed off harmlessly.
    The lawman had disappeared into the bank, hot on the heels of the fleeing outlaw. The Kid bounded onto the boardwalk and stepped into the doorway as a woman screamed.
    Instantly, his eyes took in the scene. The outlaw had managed to grab a hostage. His arm was looped around the neck of a terrified woman as he dragged her backward. Her body acted as a shield.
    The man thrust his gun toward the lawman, who had dropped his empty greener and hauled out an old, long-barreled revolver. It was a standoff as the badge-toter pointed his gun at the bank robber and the hostage.
    “Let Mrs. Grimsley go,” the lawman warned. “Nobody’s dead in here, so you’re not facing murder charges, son. But if she gets killed, you’ll hang, sure as hell.”
    “No, I won’t,” the outlaw insisted. “I’m gettin’ out of here, old man. You let me go, or this lady’s blood’ll be on your head, not mine!”
    The lawman shook his head. “It’s not gonna work like that, and you know it. The only chance you have of walking out of here alive is to surrender, son.”
    “Stop callin’ me son!” the masked bandit raged. “I ain’t your son!”
    “No, but you’re young enough to be, and I don’t want to see you dead.”
    The outlaw moved his gun back and forth a little, tracking from the lawman to The Kid and back again. “Who’s that?” he demanded. “Your deputy?”
    The lawman hadn’t looked around when The Kid entered the bank. He said, “Somebody back there?”
    “Yes, but I’m on your side, Sheriff,” The Kid replied. “I’m the one who took a hand in the ruckus outside.”
    “I’m much obliged for your help, mister,” the lawman said without taking his eyes off his quarry. “If you don’t mind, why don’t you go around back and come in that way? We’ll have this varmint between us.”
    “Sure,” The Kid said easily. “Want me to go ahead and put a bullet in him while I’m at it?”
    “Sure,” the lawman drawled, “unless he wises up and lets the poor lady go.”
    The trapped bank robber spat out a bitter curse. “All right, all right, damn it,” he went on. He angled his weapon’s barrel toward the ceiling and lowered the hammer. “I’m puttin’ the gun down before I let go of this gal, though. I don’t want you trigger-happy lawdogs ventilatin’ me.”
    The Kid didn’t bother to correct the outlaw’s assumption that he was a peace officer. He kept his Colt level and steady as the man tossed the revolver on the floor. Then he gave the woman a shove that sent her stumbling clear and thrust his hands in the air.
    “Don’t shoot!” he urged. “I’m givin’ up.”
    A couple sober-suited bank tellers rushed forward to help the woman, who appeared to be a customer who’d been in the bank when the holdup took place. They assisted her through a gate in a wooden railing and onto a chair, where she sat fanning her face, looking like she was about to faint.
    The Kid and the local lawman converged on the outlaw from different angles. When the lawman was close enough, he suddenly lifted his gun and smashed it against the side of the robber’s head. The man went down hard and didn’t move.
    “I’m not sure there was any call for that, Sheriff,” The Kid said with a